Eyes to Illustration: Researching illustrators

Monday, 24 December 2012

Researching illustrators - Laura Carlin & Tom Gauld

After the last assignment I received some feedback from my tutor who thought that some of my true style was coming through in some of the pieces I produced by drawing direct with my paintbrush. She suggested I look at the work of Laura Carlin. Laura graduated with her MA from the Royal College of Art in 2004, and has built up an enviable client list including The New York Times, The Guardian, American Express and British Airways and has won numerous awards.

Laura uses traditional media without any digital enhancements. Her work to me has a naivety to it and almost looks sketchbook like. She tackles difficult subjects in her works for various editorials often around difficult subjects.

Online images Available from http://www.heartagency.com/artist/LauraCarlin/gallery/4, Accessed 24th December 2012.

Recently she won for her illustrations of the Iron Man by Ted Hughes. Here she uses very bold almost distorted figures and shapes to bring the story to life.

I particularly like the colour choice and think the plain backdrops work well with the illustrations making them the focal point.

I especially love her animals on ceramics, and the textures that she creates on paper with translucent paint and rough paper.

Similarities can also be seen in the work of Tom Gauld. His illustrations often convey complex ideas in very simple but effective drawings. His works tend to be more comic/ cartoon based but I really like the humour and metaphors in his work.